What bad thoughts can Batman have?

Chapter 539 Barbatos's conspiracy, William Hand cannot die?! (5000 words long chapter)
"Superboy-Prime is done."

In the Crucible of Worlds, Barbatos was thinking silently. He exhaled a breath of purple lightning, propped up his upper body, and concentrated on weaving the fate of the dark multiverse.

The entire dark multiverse is Barbatos's domain, and in such a place, no one can escape his shadow.

breathe……

His voice panted and played music in a rhythmic rhythm:

Breathe.

You see, fate is a sophisticated web. As long as you pull it at the key node, history can turn in the direction that Barbatos expects.

So easy.

……

……

……

breathe……

William Hand sat in his seat on the spaceship. As the matter came to an end, he was a little nervous, as it should be.

He began to breathe softly, at exactly the same pace as Barbatos's.

Bane sat quietly in his seat. He stretched out a finger and tapped his knee lightly.

At this time, they were placed in Brainiac's skeleton spaceship, and not far away, Night Owl's Earth was protected in a bottle, emitting blue light, which contrasted with the surrounding cities captured by Brainiac.

Most of the creatures in those cities have been spoiled by Brainiac to the point that they will die if they leave his spaceship. Therefore, since obtaining this spaceship, except for some creatures that have the ability to settle in other galaxies and are entrusted to the Yellow and Green Lantern Corps, Chen Tao has been keeping the other creatures in captivity.

This spaceship became Chen Tao's trophy after Brainiac was defeated by Batman, but because it was synchronized with Batman, many of the functions of the spaceship seemed too repetitive for Chen Tao, so it has not been of much use until now.

While Night Owl was out in the universe using the Orange Lantern Ring to control the four main propulsion towers (Chapter 4), Chen Tao had also authorized Bane to use Brainiac's Skeleton Ship to do what Luther hated most to his Earth - although he wouldn't say anything even if he was here now.

There was silence in the spaceship. Brainiac's spaceship had good sound insulation. They were in the main cabin and there was no buzzing noise at all.

The screen in front of them was playing the confrontation between Batman and the Anti-Monitor. Until the last moment, Batman did not agree with William Hand's plan to commit suicide in exchange for the arrival of the Dark Lord, but he still arranged for them to be here - out of respect for their awareness.

Bane was so focused on the screen that he didn't notice William's situation.

"Hey, Mr. Bane." He heard William Hand say, "I've been thinking...Lucius and Batman once tried to make me a Green Lantern in an experiment, but I couldn't get the recognition of the Green Lantern ring."

He muttered, "Does this mean I don't have the will to be a hero?"

Bane answered him: "If you expect me to comfort you, you are wrong, William. Your enlightenment has nothing to do with the Green Lantern Ring. It is just a weapon, nothing more, not an identifier of willpower and courage."

On screen, Superboy-Prime is not back as usual.

Bane's heart was getting heavier and heavier. After seeing that Batman and the Justice League had been fighting the Anti-Monitor for another ten seconds and Superboy-Prime still hadn't returned, he suddenly stood up.

"William, Superboy-Prime is finished."

Bane said to William.

He turned to look at William Hand: "I'm afraid it's time, we have to..."

Then his movements froze.

He saw William Hand turn his head...

Half of that originally pretty face was now covered with a large number of insect-like limbs and dead flesh.

That is an important feature of the body being occupied by the Black of Decay. The only and most powerful controller of the Black of Decay, besides Bane and the Queen of Death Abigail Akan, is the current owner of the Black of Decay...

"Anton Arcane... it's you!" Bane took two steps back. "When did you sneak onto this spaceship, a clone with powerful strength? How could you..."

"Oh, of course. No one ever paid any attention to me."

"William Hand" spoke, and Bane knew that it was actually only Arcane who was possessed by him who was speaking.

"A gear that no one has ever paid attention to, a trap that is so ingenious."

Arcane sneered, "Since I have already made my debut on this stage, why do you think I will just quietly hide in Batman's universe and do nothing?"

"Why, Arkan? This will do you no good." Bane warned: "Batman has already prepared enough plans to delay the Anti-Monitor, but if you intervene, the Justice League and Batman will be quickly defeated, and the Anti-Monitor will most likely catch up with our escaped universe. If the Anti-Monitor swallows up the universe, do you think you can still stay out of it..."

Before he could finish his words, a huge green vine whip made of the green of all things came towards Arcaian from behind, but Arcaian controlled it. William Hand's half of his body was already deformed, and he grabbed the giant vine whip with one hand.

"It's a brand new world, isn't it? It's the universe of Night Owl, where the natural forces are far less clearly divided into master and slave like the natural forces in our world. The Green of All Things in this world is an unattended pan-consciousness, without the Tree Council and the May Queen. (Note: The Tree Council is the consciousness of the trees, the May Queen represents the vines, and Poison Ivy is its spokesperson.) Therefore, in this universe, you can call on more Green of All Things without scruples."

Arcane said, "But unfortunately... the Black of Decay in this universe also does not have the Decay Council, so... you see, the increase is proportional."

As William Hand's still normal half of his face let out a heart-wrenching scream, a large number of insect limbs grew on the deformed half of his body, covered with foul-smelling mucus.

Before the huge green vine could grow more branches to bind William, the limbs took a step ahead of him and fiercely inserted into the vine, then corroded the vibrant green into foul-smelling gray.

The vine fell from the wall of the spaceship, and a large number of festering limbs grew in its place. In an instant, it turned into a stinking centipede-like creature with hundreds of pairs of legs, surrounding the already corroded William.

"Someone gave you an order... Someone is helping you do all this." Bane's brain worked quickly. He was extremely intelligent. If he had not always focused his energy on scientific research, Bane might have become a scientist like Luther.

Arkain's abnormal behavior and the easy invasion of the spaceship made him think a lot, but it was obvious that Arkain would not help him solve the puzzle.

"This is all fate. The dark multiverse has no escape from this fate, right?" he said.

A drop of sweat appeared on Bane's face under his hood.

He still has the ability to fight with Akain, but this fight is meaningless.

Batman and the Justice League simply do not have the ability to confront the Anti-Monitor head-on. Even though Batman is possessed by three great Lanterns, he can still unleash the power of a parallel universe Batman that exceeds his original synchronization limit even if he loses the energy of all humans on Earth. However, two of them are forcibly tied to himself by him, and he cannot exert his full strength.

He left Arkain and the Blood Bull in his own universe and did not bring them here this time. Batman said he had to plan for the future, and the Blood Bull and Atrocitus, who could control the lamp beast, must become trump cards that Luthor could manipulate. But Bane knew very well that Batman realized as well as he did that in such a situation, even if the Blood Bull was tied up like Parallax and Ion Shark, it would not have much effect.

Batman's plan is to use Superboy-Prime to attract the attention of the Anti-Monitor. Once Superboy-Prime fails, Batman will take out the Black Lantern Ring and turn himself into the carrier of the Dark Lord. The plan that follows is a desperate fight.

But Bane and William had already decided that Batman could not be the carrier of the Dark Lord. One reason was that he could not exert his full power, and the other reason was...

"Batman is bigger than any of us."

Bane said, "William, you have to wake up, William."

"Damn it, open your eyes. I taught you that. I taught you to fight against that control. That damn fear that comes from the bottom of your heart, I want you to overcome it!"

He dodged the attack that Arcane controlled William to launch at him. Fortunately, they were in the main cabin of Brainiac's skeleton ship instead of the collection room. Otherwise, once the city in Brainiac's collection was destroyed by the aftermath of the attack, all the creatures in it would die without a burial place.

There are specific steps to release the shrunken cities from the bottles. Simply breaking them will only lead to death. Bane has immediately sealed the exhibition hall and activated the protection program to ensure that the earth is safe.

And he would trap Arkan here and kill him.

Beast hairs grew on his body, and his hands turned into claws, which then expanded rapidly. The huge claws pressed the giant vine-turned-corpse centipede to the ground. A large number of plants grew wildly on the ground and drilled into the centipede's body. "William! Wake up!"

His cry was deafening, like the cry of a dying Alfred to his Bruce in the universe of the Batman Who Laughs.

No, Bruce, don't let that thing control you... I know you can...

Then he saw that his little Bruce seemed to have escaped the control of the Joker virus, and he thought...

The Laughing Bat took advantage of this and defeated him.

"William, I need your help!"

The voice sounded like the Flash Barry Allen shouting at Batman in the Red Death's universe.

Bruce, let me help you. You are controlled by that thought. Changing the past will inevitably lead to doom...

"Wake up, wake up! Batman needs your help, the world needs your help!"

useless.

This is the fate that Barbatos weaves. He always creates a slip at the critical moment.

The huge, multi-legged centipede broke free from Bane's restraints, and one green vine after another was broken. The huge centipede hugged Bane from behind.

Hundreds of limbs, some human arms, some insect limbs, and some dead beast limbs, hugged Bane's body. The centipede opened its ferocious mouthparts, and Bane had to grow deformed metal arms from behind to resist.

He also has Batman's metal spirit in his body.

Anton Akai originally planned to go into battle himself and completely kill Bane, who was at a disadvantage, but then he felt the eyelids of William's body move, so he had to let Bane go.

"Right, William. You are actually afraid of death in your heart."

William Hand's half of the face, the half that was completely controlled by Anton Akan, whispered softly:

"You don't want to sacrifice at all, right? Batman has already prepared a black lantern ring, what can you sacrifice? Aren't you just looking for death?"

"But this man in front of me." He pointed at Bane and said, "He brainwashed you with honor, kidnapped you with morality, and led you into this place of death.

Think from your heart, William. Did you decide to come to this world because you wanted to, or was it the result of your dearest teacher Bain's induction? "

Arkan said, "You are no different from those brainwashed German youths during World War II who thought they went to the battlefield for glory, but in the end found that their sacrifice was meaningless."

"Bane, Batman, they are so nice to you, but it's all just to trick you into death."

"But I'm different. I can introduce you to a good place, William. You don't have to worry about the shadow of the Black Death Emperor anymore, and you don't have to be forced to become a consumable that can die at any time. An excellent collaborator can even..."

"You are using words to induce me."

When the voice sounded, Bane, who was still fighting the centipede, raised the corner of his mouth slightly under the mask: "Great guy."

Arcane tried to grab the other half of William's face with the hand on the half of his body that he controlled, but was immediately pinched by his intact hand:
"Teacher Bane once taught me about fear, about manipulating other people's fear. Although Teacher Bane claimed that he was not a master of playing with fear, he still helped me understand a little about fear."

He said: "You are trying to convince me... You are trying to deceive me. And the one who has the upper hand never needs to deceive."

He said: "And this means that you are the real weak party in this battle."

Akain was silent for a while. He put away his pretentious tone of induction and slowly said, "You are dead now, at least part of you are dead. William, a person cannot die twice. You have lost the ability to summon the Black Death Emperor."

He said: "This is your fate, why do you need to struggle?"

"Batman... once taught me to practice." William said slowly, "Although I completely lost consciousness during those dozens or hundreds of years of practice, you know? That knowledge is still completely engraved in my brain and body."

He opened his hands, and green chains extended from his wrists one by one. This was the technology of Kalonna. Following them were colorful lines of light that condensed into substance like meridians. This was the ability of the First Lantern.

William Hand raised his intact arm, and then swung the green chains and rays of light at himself.

vomit!
He opened his mouth and suddenly spat out a large mouthful of black water. The pure black water poured onto the half of the body controlled by Anton Arkan, causing the other party to scream.

“How dare you…” Arkain tried to create a giant insect limb to stop this from happening, but the next moment, the limb was broken by Bane’s claws: “Do you think I don’t exist?”

"Yes, you did put me in a state of half life and half death. You fought with the Black Death Emperor for control of my body through some means or with the help of someone."

William Hand said, "But you remember."

Arcane heard William Hand's voice exploding like thunder in his ears:

"How dare a scumbag like you compete with the Black Death Emperor for my body??!"

"What do you want to do? What can you do?"

Arkain suddenly transformed into a giant corpse mouth and forced Bane back briefly. He also tried to fight for William's body, and then he saw the other party suddenly put on the black lantern ring he had just spit out of his mouth on his hand.

A huge sense of trembling rushed through Arkan’s body like lightning: “You… You actually used iron chains to force the Black Death Emperor from…”

"Yes." William Hand said: "The technologies of Karona and Lantern No. 1 are specially prepared for capturing Lantern Beasts, and the Black Death Emperor...is a Black Lantern Beast himself."

He raised his head slightly, and the half of his face that was originally healthy gradually became as thin as a skeleton. Only a pair of eyes were faintly flashing green light, corresponding to the half of his face controlled by Arkain, which was swollen with corpse spots.

He raised the hand with the black light ring, and then endless black light emanated from it:

"Batman once told me..."

"The world will only become a better place if you force it."

Then he spoke: "The darkest night... the sun that covers the sky."

"No, no, damn it!"

Anton Arkan planned to escape. He intended to withdraw his power from William's body, but for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he could not escape the cage that William created with his body.

"As one rises, the other falls... darkness swallows light!"

"Damn it! Damn it! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

"You will be killed!!!"

"No, no! Let me go, I won't do it again, he will eat my whole body..."

Endless blackness lit up from William Hand's raised fist, and the entire universe made a loud rumbling sound.

The giant hand of the Black Death Emperor tore through space, crossed countless mountains and rivers, and held his chosen people in his palm.

Amid Anton Akan's screams, William Hand finished reciting the last sentence of the Black Light Oath:
"The Undead are back... Black Hand Service!!!"

A layer of black light filled his eyes.

(End of this chapter)